The progression and reward system has been overhauled and the game now rewards lock boxes. Each one of those can contain skins, voice lines, mounts, sprays, banners, emoji packs, game currency and more. If you’re a lapsed player, you have quite a few lock boxes waiting for you. You also have new levels as 40 is no longer the cap. There is no cap now and you get a level for every hero past level 1.

Note there are four weeks of quests rolling out between now and May 22 called the Nexus Challenge. It’s one of those “play with a buddy” things that rewards various items, most notably the Oni Genji Skin from last November’s Challenge and the shiny new Officer D.va skin for your Overwatch collection.

Also included in the notes are some tweaks to existing characters including a nerf to Valeera’s burst damage and Uther got a rework to be more of a frontline healer. There’s also new skins for Genji, Auriel, and Zarya now available. Check out the very, very full notes below.

Complete 5 more games with a friend in Quick Match, Unranked, or Ranked.

Overwatch Rewards: 10 Loot Boxes.

Heroes Rewards: 10 Loot Chests (one of which is Rare).

Veteran Loot Chest Rewards

All players who completed at least one Heroes of the Storm match prior to the release of Heroes 2.0 will receive a number of Loot Chests based on their converted Player Levels in the new progression system.

The most dedicated players will receive a few “Veteran” Loot Chests, which are a unique reward created for the launch of Heroes 2.0. Each Veteran Chest guarantees at least one Legendary item, and contains 5 Nexus Coins, rather than 4.

Additionally, all players who reached Player Level 40 prior to the release of Heroes 2.0 will receive a 30 Day Stimpack, which will activate as soon as Heroes of the Storm 2.0 goes live in each region.

Player Level/Rewards

Completed at least 1 Heroes match: 5 Loot Chests

Every 10 Player Levels: +1 Epic Loot Chest (55 maximum)

Every 100 Player Levels: +1 Veteran Loot Chest (10 maximum)

General

New PC Minimum Specifications

The minimum system specifications required to play Heroes of the Storm have been updated:

Minimum CPU

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6600

AMD® Phenom™ X4

Minimum GPU

NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600 GT

ATI® Radeon™ HD 4650

Intel® HD Graphics 3000 (no change)

Please Note: Minimum specifications on Mac have not changed.

New Hero: Genji

Once the carefree youngest scion of the Shimada clan, Genji was cut down by his own brother for refusing to take part in their illegal ventures. Grafted into a cyborg body by Overwatch, Genji walks his own path as one who fights for what’s right.

Trait

Cyber Agility (D)

Activate to jump to the target area.

Basic Abilities

Shuriken (Q)

Throw 3 Shuriken in a spread pattern, each damaging the first enemy it hits.

Stores up to 3 charges. Shuriken’s cooldown replenishes all charges at the same time.

Deflect (W)

Become Protected for 1.25 seconds. Any damage blocked during this period causes Genji to throw a Kunai toward the nearest enemy, prioritizing Heroes and dealing damage.

Swift Strike (E)

Dash forward, dealing damage to all enemies in a line. Enemy Heroes who die within 2 seconds after being hit by Swift Strike cause the cooldown and Mana cost to be refunded.

Heroic Abilities

Dragonblade (R)

Unleash the Dragonblade for 8 seconds. While active, Dragonblade can be reactivated to lunge forward and slash in a huge arc. If any enemy Heroes are killed within 2 seconds after being hit by Dragonblade, Swift Strike’s cooldown is reset.

X-Strike (R)

Perform 2 perpendicular slashes that deal damage and ignite after 1.25 seconds, dealing additional damage to enemies in their area of effect.

New Battleground: Hanamura

Objectives

Protected Cores

Both Cores are protected by a barrier that cannot be attacked by Heroes.

Payloads must be escorted across the Battleground in order to deal damage to the enemy Core.

Escort Payloads

The first set of Payloads spawn for each team after 2:30 into the match, and additional waves will periodically spawn throughout the rest of the game.

Stand near an allied payload to escort it. The more allies who are present to escort a payload, the faster it will move. This effect caps at 3 nearby allies.

Payloads that haven’t been escorted for a period of time will begin to slowly move backward.

Empowered Payloads

Destroying enemy Forts will cause the next allied Payload to deal additional damage when it arrives at its destination.

Destroying enemy Keeps will cause Sappers to spawn with allied Minion waves, which will fire on the Core upon reaching the end of their lanes.

Deal a total of 7 damage the opposing Core to claim victory!

Mercenary Camps

Three types of Mercenary Camps exist on Hanamura, and captured Mercenaries will not travel down a lane to attack enemies.

Instead, captured Mercenary Camps will each award one of three consumable power-ups.

Right-click a power-up to collect it, and then use the “Map Mechanic Ability” hotkey (Default: F) to activate it.

Recon Camp

Reward: Dragon Spirits

Release 3 Dragon Spirits that seek out enemy Heroes, who are then revealed for 5 seconds. Dragon Spirits are destroyed after finding enemy Heroes or after 10 seconds.

Fortification Camp

Reward: Turret

Place a Turret on the ground or on your team’s payload.

Support Camp

Reward: Healing Pulse

Restore 35% Health and 23% Mana to you and your allies over 15 seconds.

Mega Enforcer

Defeat the Mega Enforcer found at the center of Hanamura to fire 1 shot on the opposing Core.

Progression System

Player Progression Updates

Player level progression is no longer capped at 40.

Existing Hero levels have been converted to match new XP requirements without loss of Hero level.

Player level is now the sum of all Hero levels earned beyond 1.

Example: If you have 5 heroes at level 5, your player level will be 20.

Player progression badges in the Profile, Score Screen, and Quest Log will display the player’s current level up to 99.

Player progression badge art will receive more decoration every 25 player levels.

Every 100 player levels, the level displayed in the progression badge will reset, and the badge will upgrade with even more ornate artwork.

The Basic Portrait Border no longer displays the player’s current level.

Instead, the Basic Portrait Border will update every 100 levels with new art that matches the player’s progression badge.

Players can still view their total player level by checking their profiles, or by hovering the cursor over their portraits in the game’s menus.

Hero Progression Updates

Individual Hero levels are no longer capped at 20.

Every time players gain a Hero level their player level will increase accordingly.

Hero Level XP Requirements

XP requirements have been slightly increased during the first few Hero levels.

This should make early levels feel more meaningful by limiting cases where a Hero could gain multiple levels after a single game.

Low level Heroes will not lose any levels after transitioning to these new XP requirements.

Example: A Hero who had progressed 50% into level 3 prior to release will not be adjusted down to level 2 in the new system. Instead, that Hero will remain at level 3 with 50% of the XP needed to get to level 4.

XP requirements have been significantly reduced during later Hero levels.

This will decrease the amount of play time needed to progress through higher Hero levels by approximately 75 – 80% for the average player.

As a result, Heroes who were above level 5 in the previous system will gain one or more Hero levels.

Example: Heroes who were level 10 should adjust to approximately Level 15 in the new progression system. A former level 20 Hero will convert to about level 54.

Progression Rewards and New Items

Loot Chests

Loot Chests are a new way to unlock cosmetic items and other rewards in Heroes of the Storm, and players will now receive a Loot Chest every time they level-up!

Open Loot Chests, or purchase new ones, by heading to the new Loot screen added to the top navigation bar in the game’s menus.

Players will earn additional rewards upon reaching the following levels:

Player level 5: 1,000 Gems

This Gem reward will be granted retroactively to existing players who reached level 5 in the previous progression system.​

Player level 10: 7 Day Stimpack

Every 25 player levels: 150 Gems

Gems are a new currency introduced with the arrival of Heroes of the Storm 2.0. Learn more about them by clicking here.

Hero Level Progression Rewards

Hero progression rewards have also received significant changes, and can be earned at the following milestones:

Hero level 5: Hero Portrait

Hero level 15: Master Hero Portrait

Every 5 Hero levels: 500 Gold

Every 10 Hero levels: Hero-specific Loot Chest

Hero-specific Loot Chests are guaranteed to drop at least one item that’s usable by the Hero who earned it.

Collection

Introducing Your Collection

The Heroes of the Storm in-game Shop has been transformed into your Collection, which is the central location where players can browse through the Heroes and cosmetic items they own, and unlock the ones they don’t.

Switch among item categories using the row of tabs found along the top of your Collection screen.

Hover the cursor over an item to use the purchasing options available for that item, or to Forge it using Shards. Click Heroes, Skins, Mounts, and Banners to view them in more detail.

Use the dropdown menus found on each category page to filter items by owned, unowned, release date, and more. Enter keywords in the Search bar to find specific items.

The Bundles tab has been removed, and all available Bundles will now appear on your Collection’s Featured tab.

​Upon receiving previously unowned items in a Loot Chest, the total number of new items added to your Collection will be displayed on the Collection button in the top navigation bar.

Additional new item notifications will appear on each category tab in your Collection where a new item can be found, as well as on the sub-category buttons found on the left side of each category page.

Clear new item notifications by right-clicking the associated category and sub-category buttons in your Collection, and then selecting “Mark items as seen.”

Alternatively, navigate to each new item manually and hover the cursor over them to clear the notification for that item.

New Currency: Gems

Gems have replaced real money as the primary currency in Heroes of the Storm.

Gems can be used to purchase Heroes, Bundles, Loot Chests, Stimpacks, and Featured Items.

Additional Gems can be purchased using real money in the Gem Shop.

Enter the Gem Shop by clicking the “+” button found next to the Gem counter added to the top navigation bar in the game’s menus.

Existing Currency: Gold

Gold can be used to purchase Heroes and Loot Chest re-rolls.

Gold will still be awarded through Hero progression, as well as upon completing matches, Daily Quests, and Heroes Brawls.

New Crafting Material: Shards

As mentioned previously, Shards are a new crafting material that can be collected and used to Forge cosmetic items, including: Skins, Mounts, Announcers, Banners, Emoji packs, Sprays, Portraits, and Voice Lines.

Varying amounts of Shards can appear as Loot Chest drops.

Any duplicate items received in a Loot Chest will automatically fragment into Shards.​

New Items

The items listed below have been added to the Collection, and will be available for Gem purchase for a limited time.

New Skins

Genji

Oni Genji, Vengeful Oni Genji, Moss Oni Genji

Auriel

Sakura Auriel, Spring Sakura Auriel, Scarlet Sakura Auriel

Zarya

Cyberdemon Zarya, Indigo Cyberdemon Zarya, Cyborgdemon Zarya

New Bundles and Skin Packs

Genji Heroic Bundle

Sakura Auriel Skin Pack

Cyberdemon Zarya Skin Pack

Skin and Mount Changes

Skin Variations, Mount Variations, and Master Skins have been reclassified as individual items.

Players can receive these items as Loot Chest drops, or Forge them using Shards, but they are no longer unlocked via Hero progression.

Players who owned any Skins, Master Skins, and Mounts prior to Heroes of the Storm 2.0 will still be able to use them after release.

In addition to the base version of those Skins and Mounts, players will also permanently receive both of those items’ variations —whether or not they had previously unlocked them through progression.

Featured and New Items

In addition to Forging Skins and Mounts using Shards, or finding them in Loot Chests, a number of Featured Skins and Mounts will be available for Gem purchase in the Collection.

To keep things fresh, the list of Featured Skins and Mounts will rotate on a regular basis.

Many newly released Skins and Mounts will also be purchasable using Gems for several weeks following their arrival to the Nexus.

Much like new Heroes receive a Gold price reduction once they’ve been in the Nexus for a few weeks, new Skins and Mounts that are unlockable using Gems start at a higher than normal Shard price. These items will receive a Shard price reduction a few weeks after they are added to the game.

New items that are only unlockable via Loot Chests and Forging (such as a new version of an existing Skin) will not start at a higher Shard price, or receive a Shard price reduction.

​Seasonal Items

Some existing holiday-themed Skins and Mounts, including Winter Veil, Hallow’s End, Lunar Festival, and other seasonal items, will only be unlockable during in-game events for those holidays.

Unlock seasonal and holiday-themed items during their associated in-game events via Loot Chest drops, or by forging them with Shards.

User Interface

General

Keep track of Gem, Gold, and Shard totals using the counters that have been added next to the Party Panel at the top of the screen.

The Stimpack, First Win of the Day, and XP Bonus indicators have been moved beneath the Player Portrait in the upper-right corner of the screen.

Attack Move Target Point

Attack Move Target Point has been added to the Gameplay Options menu.

If enabled, attack move (default: A + Left-Click) concentrates on the closest enemy to the target point.

If disabled, attack move concentrates on the closest enemy to your Hero.

Quest Log

A Progression section has been added to the bottom of the Quest Log, which will display upcoming progression system rewards.

Clicking the Progression section of the Quest Log will open the Progression tab or Hero Detail page in the Player Profile, depending on which type of reward was displayed.

Loadouts

Loadouts offer the ability to customize which Skins, Mounts, Banners, Sprays, Voice Lines, and Announcers each Hero will use in-game.

A new “Loadout” button has replaced the “Skins” and “Mounts” buttons in the lower left corner of the Hero Select screen and Draft Lobbies.

Click the Loadout button to bring up the customization window, and then use the row of item category buttons at the top to choose which gear to equip in the selected loadout.

Use the dropdown menu beneath the row of category buttons to filter by owned and unowned items, or enter keywords in the Search bar to find specific items.

Items that have not yet been unlocked can be Forged directly from the Loadout window using Shards.

The items that are currently equipped in the selected Loadout will be displayed at the center of the screen above the Ready button.

Up to 3 Loadouts can be set per Hero, and they are automatically saved whenever a change is made.

Switch among a Hero’s Loadouts using the dropdown menu in the upper-left corner of the customization window.

Enter a name for each loadout using the text bar at the top of the customization window.

Player Profile

The Player Profile has been reworked and received additional visual polish.

Profile navigation has moved to the top of the window, and each Profile tab has changed in the following ways:

Summary

The number of Most Played Heroes displayed has increased from 3 to 4.

A number of new statistics, as well as award and reward information, will now be displayed in the bottom half of the window.

Current player level, and Ranked play badges have moved to the right side of the window.

The chart detailing the number of games played per Hero role can be found in the lower-right corner.

Progression

Current player level, and the 3 Heroes who are closest to leveling-up, will now be displayed at the center of the Progression tab.

Upcoming progression rewards will populate along the left-side of the window.

Roster (Formerly: “Hero Collection”)

All available Heroes, and their current Hero level progress, are visible on this tab.

Click a Hero to view additional statistics and upcoming Hero progression rewards. Buttons have also been added for the Collection and Try Mode.

Favorite Heroes and a number of new statistics can now be found on the right side of the window.

Match History

Has received additional visual polish.

Statistics

Use this tab to view a number of new Hero statistics, Battleground win-rates, and a variety of other performance data.

Portrait

This tab has been removed from the Profile.

Players can now select their Portraits and Portrait Borders using the Portraits category in the Collection.

Mastery Taunts

Issuing an in-game Taunt using a Hero who has reached level 15 or higher will now display unique “mastery” visual effects.

The Hero will also play its taunt animation and voiceover.

Issue an in-game Taunt using the radial emote menu (default: X), by pressing the Taunt hotkey (default: J), or by typing “/Taunt” into chat.

Additional Hero Mastery Taunts will be added to the game in future patches, unlocking at levels 25, 50, 75, and 100.

Heroes Brawl

In cases where multiple Heroes are used during the same Heroes Brawl, the total XP earned will be divided evenly among them.

Completing the weekly Heroes Brawl quest will now award a Loot Chest, rather than a Portrait and Gold.

In-Game U.I.

The in-game Chat box has been slightly lowered to provide more visibility in the center of the screen.

Expression Wheel

An Expression Wheel has been added, which can be used to quickly drop a Spray, play a Voice Line, as well as issue Dance and Taunt commands, in-game.

Press “X” to bring up the Expression Wheel, and then drag the cursor in the direction of the desired expression.

The Voice Line and Spray that are available in-game can be set using the Loadout button during Hero Select, as detailed above.

Art

General

The Loading Screen displayed upon launching the game client has received new art!

Visual effects that indicate Movement Speed bonuses have received updates.

Sprays have received additional polish that should help them feel more integrated with battleground environments.

Heroes, Abilities, and Talents

Tassadar: Nullification (Talent) has received updated visual effects.

Battlegrounds

Layout Adjustments

The following Battlegrounds have each received a number of minor layout improvements in order to alleviate certain areas that could create awkward gameplay moments.

Sky Temple

Cursed Hollow

Dragon Shire

Garden of Terror

These changes generally consist of small adjustments to the terrain, and some areas of brush have been pruned or removed.

Battleground art has been updated to match the areas where these changes were made.

Heroes

Asssassins

Valeera

Abilities

Eviscerate (E)

Damage reduced from 100 to 85 per combo point

Talents

Level 13

Death from Above (Q)

​Teleport range reduced from 7 to 6

Level 20

Coldblood (E)

Removed

Developer Comment: In an effort to reduce the frustration of playing against Valeera, we’re reducing her burst damage potential. Especially in Quick Match when counter picking isn’t an option, the ability for a stealth assassin with disabling effects and high burst damage isn’t fun or healthy for the game, so we’re toning it down some.

Specialist

Probius

Abilities

Photon Cannon (E)

Can now be self-cast

Support

Auriel

Abilities

Resurrect (R)

New Functionality

Increased cooldown from 70 to 120 seconds

Reduced channel time from 3 to 0.5 seconds

Added a 5 second delay between finishing the cast and the Hero coming back to life

Talents

Level 20

Light Speed (R)

New Functionality

Removed the increased Health upon reviving

Now causes the cooldown of Resurrect to recharge 100% faster while previous target is alive

Brightwing

Abilities

Soothing Mist (Trait)

Now displays a range ring around Brightwing that conveys the radius of her heal. This is only visible to Brightwing.

Uther

Stats

Removed passive Armor

Base maximum Health increased from 2054 to 2156

Health Regeneration increased from 4.28 to 4.49

Abilities

Holy Light (Q)

Healing amount reduced from 427 to 380

Now also heals Uther for 190 if cast on an ally

Holy Radiance (W)

Healing amount reduced from 219 to 160 (now matches damage)

Mana cost reduced from 65 to 60

Eternal Devotion (Trait)

Added Functionality:

When Uther heals anyone with a Basic Ability, they gain 25 Armor for 2 seconds. This effect does not stack with itself.

Healing a Stunned, Rooted, or Silenced Hero with a Basic Ability increases the Armor bonus of Eternal Devotion from 25 to 75

(New) Hand of Protection (Active)

Activate to make target ally Unstoppable for 1 second. Cannot be cast on yourself. 90 second cooldown. Basic Attack reduce this cooldown by 5 seconds.

Level 13

Blessed Champion (Q)

Healing from Basic Attacks reduced from 20% to 15% of Holy Light, but is calculated from the combined total of Holy Light’s Ally and self heal

Holy Shock (Q)

Moved to level 4

No longer increases the value of Uther’s next Holy Light, but instead refunds 45 Mana when cast on an enemy

Holy Shock still heals Uther for 200 if cast on an enemy

Shrink Ray (Active)

Removed

(New) Well Met (E)

Hammer of Justice also reduces enemy Hero Movement Speed by 25% and damage by 25% for 3 seconds

Level 16

Hardened Focus (Passive)

Removed

Righteous Defense (Q)

Removed

Gathering Radiance (W)

Removed

(New) Tyr’s Deliverance (W)

Hitting an allied Hero with Holy Radiance increases their healing received by 40% for 6 seconds

Level 20

(New) Divine Protection (Trait)

Eternal Devotion’s Armor can now stack twice. Each new application will refresh the duration of both armor effects

Developer Comment: With Uther’s rework, we want to play up his ability to be a disruptive frontline presence, keep his role as an anti-burst Healer, but maintain the weakness of not having great sustained healing. By making Holy Light always heal Uther, he doesn’t mind as much when he takes damage from being up there. Having his abilities apply Armor is a great way to make him an effective support against teams with predictable damage, while having lower healing per second compared to the other supports. Ideally, you’ll pick Uther when your team could use a stronger frontline, when your opponents are very reliant on disabling effects, or when the enemy team has predictable incoming damage.

Warriors

Anub’arak

Abilities

Burrow Charge (E)

Hovering over this ability will now show the range indicator for distance traveled, as well as the area affected when he emerges from burrow

Locust Swarm (R)

A range indicator will now appear to Anub’arak while Locust Swarm is active

Talents

Level 13

Urticating Spines (W)

Hovering over the ability button after selecting this talent will now show a range indicator

Bug Fixes

General

Mac: Launching Heroes of the Storm using the Mac 10.12 OS will no longer adjust the player’s mouse acceleration setting.

Battlegrounds

Battlefield of Eternity: Fixed a rare issue in which an Immortal could be awarded to the wrong team if both Immortals were killed at nearly the same time.

Haunted Mines: The terrain surrounding Sapper Merc Camps will now correctly block vision of the camp.

Haunted Mines: Leoric will no longer fail to respawn properly after being killed via damage dealt by a nearby spawning Grave Golem.

Tomb of the Spider Queen: Webweavers will no longer become distracted by Summoned units.

Try Mode: The Complete Quests button will now correctly set Zul’jin’s You Want Axe quest to 120 attacks, rather than 500.